Women's fiction writer: strong characters, pacey plots, love stories, mystery, travel - including the overland trail to India - and historical fiction (as Janet MacLeod Trotter). Jan runs an online reading group called bookgroupies. This site includes diary entries and photos from her experiences on the hippy trail in the 1970s. Enjoy the nostalgia!

Welcome from Jan

Hi there! This blog is for those who love both books and travel. I'm starting by travelling back in time to the 1970s and the overland trail to India which I took as an 18 year old. Have a look at my daily diary entries and photos. Some of these places are impossible to visit at the moment, but I can give you a flavour of what they were like in the golden age of the hippy trail.

Sunday, 29 November 2009

"Woke to find selves sleeping on a thoroughfare! People almost walking over us - very curious standers-by watched us - difficult when came to dressing! Long wait while Afghans searched bus, roof, boot - opened some cases - found bottle of whisky in each one!

On Pakistani side were hassled by money changers. Very dirty border village; big wicker benches (like hammocks) outside cay shops. Neva and me had dry cake thing - one of those eating days.

Exciting drive through Khyber Pass - not officially allowed to take photos, so had to balance at windows without truck behind seeing us - probably only get a blur! Very barren, rocky mountainsides with dusty houses perched on slopes and in valley. Winding road, very narrow pass at one point; quite easily be ambush or battleground areas! Lots of pack ponies around, looked after by fierce little boys.

Stopped at village in middle of pass (highest point of pass - Landi Kotal). Very dirty with rather tall buildings - looked unusual. Fascinating bazaar set down almost under cover and very narrow. Great hunks of dripping meat, knives sellers, deep open drains, dead rat, hashish peddlars, men with guns slung over theirshoulders - Pathan country! (Disappointed that haven't seen very many swaggering Pathans!)

Stopped at Peshawar at a fruit and veg check point. Man came on bus and slit our fruit from Afghanistan - chucked some away.

Countryside soon levelled out - real surprise and relief to see green trees and semi-green fields again - some of the scenery was really quite english. Fascinating market towns, throbbing with life and colours again. Drove late after stop for supper where locals almost fell in the stew they came so close. (Crossed Indus River by Attock Fort)."

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About Me

I belong to a big family and a big clan - the MacLeods. At 18 I climbed on a bus going to Kathmandu. When I eventually got home I went to Edinburgh University to do Social Anthropology and study student life. I have been a published writer since the mid 1980s. (19 novels including historical sagas, mysteries and a childhood memoirs called Beatles and Chiefs, many short stories and articles. Have edited Clan MacLeod Magazine and had a column in the Newcastle Journal).Check out my historical novels (Amazon top sellers and also best-sellers in France, Russia and Italy),childhood memoir and mystery novels (one about the hippy trail) at: www.janetmacleodtrotter.com